Eyes are the windows to your soul
by Ellyn92
Summary: Percy and Annabeth showed up seperatly after their journey through Tartarus. None of the other demigods knows what has happened to them, nor why they do not want to talk about it. The only thing they do know is that time's running out and war is standing at their doorstep. Will they manage to overcome their recent problems and succeed in their mission? Setting: post MoA
1. Chapter 1: Prologue

**Chapter 1: Prologue**

**Hazel**

At long last, I found Percy, after I'd been looking for him for quite a while. I did not expect to find him in such an obvious place: right at the helm of the ship, sunken in thoughts while overlooking the sea. He looks pretty good. That is to say, in comparison with how he looked like we found him about a week ago.

'You're obviously the only one on this ship who does not believe I'm going to explode any second,' Percy says suddenly, without even turning around. I'm surprised he noticed that I was sneaking up on him. I do not ask why he made that remark, cause I already know the answer. Instead, I say: 'Indeed, I don't. What are you doing here?' Percy sighs. 'I don't really know, to be honest.' Another strange answer, like the ones I've been getting a lot from him lately. Guess I cannot blame him for acting strange, not after what he's been through. 'Can I join you?' I ask him. Without waiting for an answer, I stand beside him and follow his gaze across the water. I never really understood what people like so much about the sea. Most people describe it as nice and blue, but according to me, it's all dirty and it smells horrible. But I get why Percy must like it so much, it's his territory and probably it's also the closest thing he has to home right now.

After a few moments of silence, I start to believe that Percy's not going to say anything to me. In an attempt to start a conversation, I fill him in on what the others are doing, although he doesn't seem very interested. Maybe I'm just a bad storyteller - I got to admit that my story about Leo's attempt to do the laundry is actually not half as funny as it was when Frank told me about it.

'So,' Percy finally says when I'm done talking, 'nobody seems to be doing anything interesting today.' He gives me a halfhearted smile. 'Means I'm not the only one who's being rather useless,' he adds. I shrug, 'Everyone seems to be a bit distracted lately. According to me, only coach Hedge is having a good time... He's watching Game of Thrones right now, and he thinks it's the best series ever – he's kind of addicted to it. Probably that's the reason he's not often around anymore, or at least he wants us to believe that. To be honest, I think he just wants to be alone. Things have changed on this ship, ever since you where, you know…'

'Gone.'

'_Dham you, Hazel,' _I tell myself,_ 'No more talking about the Percy-was-gone-period.'_

'I don't know why he finds that series so fantastic.' I say quickly, in an attempt to avoid the subject I just brought up, 'He's also been naming characters after us and he considers that to be an honor. He even named one after you!'

All of a sudden, a large wave makes the ship rock and I hardly manage to keep my balance, so I grip the railing of the Argo II. Percy, on the other hand, did not even move an inch, but he's the son of the Sea God after all.

'I'm flattered,' he says flatly, 'Which one got the honor of carrying my name from now on?'

'Davos Seaworth, or something like that. The coach actually got the name wrong. He thought he was named 'That lost Sea God'.' Right after I spoke those words, I truly wish I hadn't, cause Percy turns away from me. In an attempt to make up for my stupid mistake, I stammer:

'I think it … it means that he missed you.'

Percy walks away, and I feel a little disappointed. After a few steps, he holds still and turns around. To my surprise, he's smiling. 'Is that Davos a good-looking guy?'

I sigh, relieved. 'Not really, he's kind of old and going bald, but he seemed nice. I guess the coach chose him because he was always walking nearby the sea, and he had a nice boat.'

I wink at Percy, and when he returns the favor with a small grin, I decide that this could the right moment to bring up the subject nobody's been wanting to talk about for too long.

'He also got captured in an attempt to save a friend, later on.'

'Like I was.'

'Like you were.'

Percy slowly nods, 'I'm glad to hear that at least one person has missed me. I only hoped it would have been someone else than that old goat.' A shiver goes down my spine after he said that and suddenly I feel pretty bad for the torn up guy standing in front of me. So it's true, my feelings where right: Percy truly believes we no longer care about him.

'Don't be too harsh on the others. I believe they don't really know how to behave in your presence.'

It's a lame excuse, I know, but what else is there to say about this messed up situation? After all, none of us really knows what happened to Percy after we lost him and Annabeth at Arachnes lair – except for Annabeth of course. But she does not talk about anything either, she doesn't even talk at all. When we found her, she acted like she'd gone completely haywire, which was very un-Annebeth-like. Eventually she calmed down, but she did not want to talk to any of us. When Percy returned, all of us hoped that her condition would improve, but it didn't. Most of the time, she locks herself up in her room and often skipped dinner. At night, I can often hear her screaming and whispering in her sleep – but none of the things she says makes much sense. Without a doubt, something terrible must have happened to Annabeth and Percy during the time they spend at Tartarus. The entire mystery about the journey those two made and why they showed back up on earth _separately_, is eating me.

'I thought Annabeth would…' Percy's voice trails off and I'm sure he's at the edge of breaking down. I walk up to him and give him a hug. When I let go, I look up at him. His bright, sea green eyes stare back at me. I remember the first time I saw them – they looked vivid, gentle and courageous. Now they look tormented, hollow and ghostly. Eyes that have seen too much, eyes that have seen things they were not supposed to see. 'Eyes are the window to the soul', they say. I genuinely hope that doesn't apply to Percy. Because if those eyes mirror how torn up his soul really is, I'm afraid Percy Jacksons is beyond fixing.

'Maybe we should talk to the others, about how you feel. Would it make you feel better?' I propose. Percy gives me a distracted look. 'Tartarus changes people, I kind of feel I lost a lot of things down there,' he replies hesitantly

'But talking might help, it helped for me – so I could deal with my, er… problem.' I give Percy a gentle push against the shoulder, hoping it would encourage him a bit.

'Maybe it does, Hazel. But recently I started to believe that some things I've lost down there, better stay hidden forever. I think I need some time to figure out what memories I want to dig up again… And when I'm done with that, we'll talk. I promise.' By those words, Percy turns around and leaves me behind on the deck, pondering about what he just told me.


	2. Chapter 2: Truth or dare?

**Chapter 2: Truth or Dare?**

**Piper**

When I arrive at the messroom, I note that the atmosphere is rather tense. So far, only four people showed up for dinner – myself not included. Frank, Leo, Nico and Jason are eating their meals in silence. Obviously, they felt like dressing up as depressed persons today, and worse, they also act like ones. My mother certainly wouldn't approve of this new sense of fashion, and for once, I have to admit I'd agree with her. I take a seat next to Jason and start to butter a piece of bread. After a couple of minutes, I grow tired of the ongoing silence.

"Where's Hazel?" I focus my gaze on Nico, who looks like he hardly noticed I said something.

"Nico?"

He looks up – his mouth's full of toast. "What?" he groans, while spitting out some breadcrumbs.

"Can you tell me where Hazel is?" I ask, trying not to sound too disgusted by his improper behavior.

"How should I know? Maybe she's taking a shower, or maybe she's still sleeping. Dunno."

I roll my eyes. I don't think Hazel is late because she's simply taking a shower. By the tone of his voice, I'm sure Nico does not really believe that either. I'm about to tell him that, when suddenly, someone opens the door. I turn around, expecting to see Hazel, but instead …

"Brace yourself ladies, Winter is coming!" Coach Hedge storms into the messroom whilst attacking invisible foes with his wooden club. He's wearing a white T-shirt on which he wrote 'Team Daenerys' with a red highlighter. I laugh by the sight of him, as he looks extremely ridiculous, and I gaze at my friends to see how they react to Gleesons appearance: Jason is looking rather angry, Nico is still paying too much attention to his toasted bread and Leo is laughing – partly because of the coach and also because Frank tumbled out of his chair. "That's not funny coach!" I hear Frank grumble from underneath the table. Leo's laughing grows louder: "Sure it was!"

"Thank you for the compliment, monsieur Valdez," Gleeson says while making a bow. "I'm here to cheer you all up."

"And you figured the best way to do that was scaring the crap out of Frank?" a calm voice asks. I look up and notice that Percy is leaning against the doorpost, his arms crossed. I must admit he looks far better than the last time I've seen him. A bit of color has returned in his face and he's smiling a little. He dressed up in a shirt with a V-neck, so you can see a part of the bandage that's covering his chest. His sea green eyes are staring at the old satyr.

"Mr. Jackson!" the coach calls out in amazement, "What a pleasant surprise! I did not expect you'd join us for dinner."

To be honest, I did not either. I'm pretty impressed by Percy's determination to be part of everything that's going on around here. If I were him, I would camp in my bedroom for the rest of the year, drinking nectar whenever I could. But instead he showed up in order to dine with us, for the third day in a row.

"Anyway, you were telling us you've got a plan to cheer us up?" Percy says. The coach nods: "Yes, my dear boy. We're going to play capture the flag today, just as we used to do during the good old days at camp. Bit nostalgic, don't you think. Who's in?"

"I'm not," Nico replies bluntly, "I hate that game." Coach Hedge turns towards the others, but when no one reacts, he looks at us like we just decided to cancel his birthday. "Nobody?" he pleads.

"Sorry coach…" Jason begins, but Percy cuts in.

"I've got a better idea," he declares. Six pairs of eyes turn to him in amazement.

"What about a game of truth of dare?" he asks, sounding bitter.

Jason shoots me a worried look, like he wants to say 'I knew this was coming'. I wait for Jason to talk us out of the inevitable 'we-have-to-talk-moment' (I don't want to use my charmspeak on Percy), but instead he just says: "Alright, deal."

Leo's jaw drops. "Has he gone mental?" he mouths at me, but I don't know how to react. Percy, on the other hand, sits down at the table, reclines in his chair and points his spoon at Jason. "You, truth or dare?"

"Truth," Jason answer a bit reluctantly.

"Why do all of you act like I'm going to drop dead any minute?"

I sigh and drop my eyes, while a sudden feeling of guilt washes over me. We've all been avoiding Percy for days, which kind of seemed a bad idea all along. Even though his behavior has been kind of odd ever since he returned, Percy did not deserve to be ignored. The thing is, nobody wanted to talk to him because we all feel incredibly guilty about what happened. There is also no way we can justify what we did. I thought about apologizing to him several times, but when I played the scenario in my head, it always sounded like a really bad thing to do. I could not possible walk up to him like 'Hey, I'm sorry we abandoned you and Annabeth at Arachnes lair, almost let you starve to death in Tartarus, did nothing to find or help you and didn't even manage to reach the Doors of Death in the meantime?' So I figured avoiding him was the best solution, and apparently, the others had done the same.

After a few minutes during which nobody finds the courage to respond to Percy's question, he stands up. I expected he'd storm out of the room, but instead, he offers his hand to Jason. 'No more hiding from each other, alright? I think we need everyone on this ship, so we better start talking before we fall apart." Jason stares at Percy's stretched out arm for a couple of moments, his eyes are fixed at Percy's SPQR tattoo. I notice a tear welling up in the corner of Jason's eye. Then, he walks around the table and hugs Percy like he's reuniting with a long lost friend. Well, actually, he kind of is.

"I am so glad you're back Percy. I'm so sorry about everything - and that's an understatement." Percy sighs, relieved: "I missed you too."

When both of the boys let go, Jason gives Percy an encouraging smile. "No more hiding?"

"Agreed."

"Er…," Leo interrupts, "This is kind of awkward. But, Percy – I want you to know I really love to have you around." Frank nods approvingly: "Yeah. Me too… You know - maybe we should look for Annabeth and Hazel, we got a lot to discuss with them too."

I agree: "You're right. We'll search for them. We meet again in … an hour? If that's alright with you?" The others nod, and Jason gives me a wink, which gives me a warm feeling.

"Alright then," Leo announces, "Let's find the others , shall we?" He grabs Frank by the arm. "Come on Frank, let's go." Frank gives us a bewildered look as Leo pushes him out of the room. "See yah!" he yells, before the both of them disappear out of sight. "Well, we should join them," Nico stands up, still holding his toasts in his hand. He leaves the room, followed by Jason and Percy, side by side.

"Hey! Wait!" the coach yells at their backs, "what about my super-plan? I even made Game of Thrones-themed flags for our game!"


	3. Chapter 3: She's got her eye on me

**Chapter 3: She's got her eye on me**

**Percy**

**Flashback**

If 'failing to keep a promise' was a course at school, I would only get straight A's for it. Unfortunately for me, it's not and my recently developed talent did not come in handy yet either. I did promise to carry Annabeth around until we found a safe place to hide, I did promise her I'd find a way out of this place and I also did promise I'd heal her ankle – not exactly in that order. And I managed to keep _none _of these promises.

Right now, we're sitting somewhere in what I believe to be the in the middle of Tartarus, and I'm trying to light a fire. Until this very moment, all my efforts have been in vain. But it's not such a big deal after all – this is hell and just like the stories claim, it's burning hot down here. The real problem is that we haven't been able to see a thing ever since the lights suddenly died about an hour ago.

"Percy?" Annabeths voice pulls me out of my train of thoughts, "It's not going to work." I want to tell her she's right – as always – but I don't. "It must work, without a light, I cannot get a look at that broken ankle of yours," I tell her.

"Sure, but, don't you need to rest a little bit? You carried me for hours, Seaweed Brain. You look exhausted."

"How can you tell? It is dark in here."

"You get the point, mr. Obvious. Just lay down with me for a while. I'm not going to die of some broken bones, alright?" I must admit there is much truth in those words. I finally give in and lay down besides Annabeth, or at least, I hope the breathing thing besides me is her. "Sorry," I mutter, "I tried but…"

"It's not your fault, alright. Let's sleep while we still can. The light in here will return in time, it can't possibly stay dark forever." Annabeth is trying to sound reassured, but I know she isn't.

"I hope it will," I whisper doubtfully. I close my eyes and within minutes, I feel myself slipping away. Annabeths breathing is also getting slower and after a while, she starts to snore a little. The sound of it always annoyed me before, but right now I'm thankful for it. By the sound of her snoring, I can tell she's still there…

**Present**

"Hazel! Annabeth! Where are you?" Leo's shouting. I do not want to discourage him, but I think it's finally time to tell him they aren't here. Otherwise, they would have shown up when he started yelling ten minutes ago. I open my mouth to say something to him, when an open door catches my eye. It's Annabeths cabins door. Immediately, curiosity gets the better of me. Annabeth would kill me if she ever found out I went through her stuff – at least the old her would - but I decide that's a problem I'd deal with later. Besides, I've been through worse things than one of Annabeths furies.

I walk into her room, only to find out it is as empty and neat as it has always been. No decorations on the wall, not a tiniest bit of garbage on the floor. Just like Annabeth always kept her chamber. I look around a bit, searching for something I can investigate, but there is nothing to find. Maybe because Annabeth has nothing to hide, but probably she hid everything she did not want me to find. Or perhaps … Perhaps she put it in a place so obvious where I would not even consider to look for something. Just to make sure, I lift her blankets and her pillow. Bingo! Underneath the pillow is lying a book. A very old looking book, and also a very large one. It's called 'Inferno' by Dante. Some voice in the back of my head tells me I should know what it's about, but that same voice also tells me it's a good thing I don't. I pick it up, in order to see if anything is hidden underneath – but there is nothing. I open the book – maybe she'd put something inside of it (like those bad guys do in the movies) – but to my disappointment, it turns out to be nothing more than an ordinary book. I sigh and put the thing back where it belongs. I tidy things up a bit and just when I'm about to leave, I notice something near the right corner of the room. One moment it was there, and the other it wasn't anymore. An eye – a stormy, grey eye. Annabeth's eye. It takes a while for me to figure out what actually happened, but then I notice that Annabeths Yankees cap is no longer hanging in his rightful place – on the wall besides her bed. For a moment, I hesitate. Does she know I saw her? Should I tell her I know she'd been here all the time?

I decide not to, even though I really want to know why she's using her invisibility-cap to hide from me. Maybe hiding herself is her way to cope with everything that's happened.

"Or maybe she's avoiding you," a dark voice in my head says. I shake away the thought, and leave.


	4. Chapter 4: A late night visit

**Chapter 4: A late hour visit**

**Leo**

**Flashback**

A loud blast wakes me up in the middle of the night. I shoot up, still half asleep, in order to find out what just happened. Fortunately, my bedroom is still intact. For a moment, I consider going back to sleep, but a fatherly feeling inside me urges me to get up and see if the ship is alright. Correction – to see if MY ship is alright. I slip out of bed, put on my T-shirt and a pair of slippers and set out into the night. I check every room on the ship, as well as every corridor and even every hidden storage room there is. But I cannot find the source of the loud noise that woke me up earlier.

"_Maybe Frank turned into an elephant during his dream and fell out of bed,"_ I tell myself. It's a stupid explanation, but I have no idea about what the real explanation could be. I start to ponder a little as I make my way back to my room, until I bump into someone. I fall backwards, hitting my head against the wall.

"Watch where you're going, will you?" an annoyed voice says.

It's Nico.

"Sorry," I say, while rubbing the back of my head. I hear a door opening behind me. I look around and notice that Hazel's woken up to. Her hair's all messy, and she looks mad.

"Ever heard of the word 'quiet'?" she asks angrily.

"I already said I'm sorry," I reply.

"What in Jupiter's name are you two doing outside at _this_ hour? Can't you two hold your little meeting at a more decent hour?" Hazel ask sleepy.

"I'm not having encounters with him!" Nico whispers fiercly, "I heard footsteps, so I wanted to know if there was an intruder on the ship. But it turns out he was just sneaking around." Nico nods at me.

"Easy guy! Didn't you hear it? There was loud blast, about fifteen minutes ago. I'm 'sneaking around' because I wanted to know what had caused it." I look at Hazel and Nico.

"No," they say in unison.

"Never mind," I sigh, "maybe it was nothing. I checked everywhere, but I didn't…" Wait – I did not check every place on this ship. I struggle to my feet. "I forgot to look upstairs!" I say as I make my way to the stairs. Hazel tries to stop me.

"Leo, is it a good idea to go outside all alone - in the middle of the night?" She sounds worried.

I give her a glare: "No, you're right." So I grab her hand, as well as Nico's. "As you two are already awake, you can join me." I pull the both of them towards the stairs. Hazel follows without struggling, but Nico starts to protest: "No, Leo, I want to go back to bed."

"Don't be such a pussy!"

Nico snorts, "Fine, but if nothings there, I'm gone."

"Alright, alright…"

Together, we head to the deck. A cold breeze strokes my hair and sends a shiver down my spine as I step outside. I suddenly get the feeling something is terribly wrong. Apparently, I am not the only one. "Let's go back inside, there is no one here," Hazel croaks. I ignore her, and walk further away from her and Nico. Then I see him – Hazel was wrong. There is someone here.

"Lord Hermes!"

The man standing at the helm of the ship greets me with a smile, although it's not a very gentle one.

"Good evening, my dear demigods. Finding me took you a while, I must say."

I give him an annoyed look: "You could have visited us at a more decent hour. Normal people are asleep right now." Behind me Hazel clears her voice. "What?" I mouth at her. "Be polite," she whispers. I sigh, "I'm sorry for my rudeness, my lord. What brings you here, _at this hour_?"

"I've got a message."

"A message, for whom?"

"Anyone on this ship who will take it. But as it comes from Lord Hades himself, I guess I'll give it to his children." Hermes searches his pockets and pulls out a black envelope. He tries to hand it over to Hazel, but she refuses to take it. "I'm a daughter of Pluto, so maybe you should give it to Nico." Hermes makes an impatient gesture, "Fine!", and gives the letter to Nico. Nico takes it and rips it open. Hazel and I walk up to him, so we can read along over his shoulder.

"_I owe you one."_

That's all it says. What does that even mean? Hades owes us one? Nico flips the letter, in order to look for further explanation, but there is none.

"My lord, what does this mean?" Hazel asks, still staring at the four words written on the paper. When she gets no answer, she looks up and gasp. "What's wrong?" I wanted to ask, but when I look up from the letter as well, I already know what's wrong. Hermes has disappeared. Right where he stood, is lying a person. Although it's very dark, I can see his clothes are tattered and soaked in blood. I can see several scars and burn marks on his arms and face, and I can also see the SPQR tattoo on his arm. Even though his eyes are closed, I can tell exactly which color they have. Better yet – I know _who_ those eyes belong to.

Nico is the first one to unfreeze, "How…?"

Hazel runs towards Percy, looking in shock. "Get help!" she shouts. But I can't move, I'm too shocked. "Hazel, is he dead? He looks terrible… There is so much blood!"

"Get help Leo!" I still don't move. The sight of Percy lying there is hypnotizing me. It really looks like he's dead…

"LEO!" Hazels voice sounds so desperate, that it makes me move. "Right - help!" I run towards the stairs, but before I reach them, Nico grabs me by the arm. "Don't wake Annabeth," he whispers grimly.

"Why?"

"She does not need to see this. His aura's fading, Leo, I don't want her to watch him die."


	5. Chapter 5: Time is a curious thing

**Chapter 5: Time is a curious thing**

**Jason**

"So, haven't found them yet?" Piper asks as she sits down besides me.

"Nope, not a sign of them. Percy's the last person who has seen Hazel, and nobody remembers the last time they saw Annabeth… They still got half an hour before we have to meet at the messroom."

"I know, but … Where could they be?" Piper murmurs. I don't really believe she expects me to answer that question. I stare at the horizon in silence. Piper lays her head on my shoulder and closes her eyes.

"I hope they noticed we agreed to hold a meeting. They should still be on the ship, it's not possible for them to have left. Not at open sea," she whispers.

No, indeed, it's impossible, unless they magically disappeared. But I also consider that as an option, being a demigod in a demigod-world. "Are the others still looking for them?" I ask Piper.

"Hmhm, Frank and Leo are. Leo's kind of having fun, he acts like he's Sherlock Holmes. He's been calling Frank 'Dr. Watson' all the time," she replies. I smile. Good old Leo, always taking things less serious than the rest of us.

"Leo should be more serious about those things."

"Don't blame him for his silliness. At least he gives us a reason to smile, from time to time. As you are sitting here, looking like a guy who's auditioning for an Armani commercial, I don't think you are really worried either."

To be honest, I'm not. Ever since Percy and Annabeth fell into that pit in Rome, everyone has been acting different than before. To begin with, all of us needed some more alone-time, so I'm used to disappearing crewmembers. I'm actually quite impressed by the hiding skills of the others, especially Hazel's and Nico's. It's really a mission impossible to find them when they don't want to be found. I guess it's a Pluto/Hades thing. Thinking about Hades …

"Where's Nico?" I gaze at Piper, whose head's still lying on my shoulder. She opens her eyes and looks up at me.

"Eating toast, probably. He went back to his room a while ago. He said he was tired of searching."

"Ow." I wanted to make a remark on about Nico's laziness, but then I realize, I've been sitting here for some time without looking for the others too.

"Anyway, they should have showed up for dinner half an hour ago. We need them at the meeting." I gently push Piper away from me and struggle to my feet. "I'm going to look downstairs, maybe Hazel and Annabeth already showed up." I reach out my hand, in order to help Piper up. "Are you coming?" She shakes her head, "No, not yet. I'm going to enjoy the sunlight some more, while I still can." I nod. Sunlight is a rare thing to be seen lately, as the weather has become very unpredictable. One moment, the sun is shining, and the other gets dark and starts raining cats and dogs. "Fine, see you later," I say a little disappointed.

Back at the dining room, I find it to be deserted. Or at least, I thought it was, until I spot Percy, staring out of the window. The sunlight is reflecting on his pale skin, which makes his appearance almost ghostly. During his time in Tartarus, he did not only lose his tan, but also several pounds of weight. Instead, he has gained a lot of scars and bruises, which cover almost all of his body. Most people in his situation would look sickly, but to my surprise, Percy doesn't. His torn up appearance makes him look like some war veteran, someone people should look up to. Probably that's also due to his attitude. He's no longer as cheerful and rebellious as he has always been – something I totally understand - but he traded those traits for some more mature ones, or so it seems to me. Even though I often spot him looking terrified about things I cannot see, or watch how he's trying hard not to break down, he's been keeping up his mood all week. Even when we all avoided him, he was brave enough to walk up to us with a smile and offered us a way out of our miserable non-talking situation. I'm really thankful that Percy found a way back to us, cause I have no idea where we would have ended up without him.

"Enjoying the view?" I walk around the table until I'm right next to Percy.

"I'm just taking my time to realize I'm actually really here," he says quietly, "I haven't seen the sun for about a month."

'A month'… When he says that, he makes it sound like that month had lasted a thousand years.

"The earth mother will rise in a month" a voice in my head says. That month is almost over, or at least, it should be. If my calculations are right, it should be June 29th by now. But people on the news keep saying it's only June 10th. Someone must have messed with time. I'm not sure who it was and why he or she did it, but my feeling tells me Percy and Annabeth know something more about it.

"_Clocks slay time... time is dead as long as it is being clicked off by little wheels; only when the clock stops does time come to life."_

I heard Annabeth whisper those words in her sleep one night, a week after we found her. I Googled it, as it sounded like some quote from a book she read. It turned out to be a line from a book written by a Nobel Prize winner named William Faulkner. But I'm sure that it has a deeper meaning.

"Euhm, Percy. I'm not sure you already now but time …"

"Has been messed up," he interrupts, "I know."

"How do you know? Hazel told you that?"

"No."

"But…"

"I'll explain, later. But I can't exactly explain how all of this happened. Annabeth will have to fill in the gaps of my story."

"Or maybe I'll just tell you the entire story?" a girls voice demands, taking me by surprise. I did not hear any one coming, but when I turn around, I look straight into Annabeth Chase's stormy eyes. It's like she just materialized out of thin air, right in the middle of the room.


	6. Chapter 6: Living a nightmare

**Chapter 6: Living a nightmare**

**Annabeth**

**Flashback**

I've been living my worst nightmare for exactly two days, three hours and 5 minutes. And all that time, I've been scared to death. Why? Because _nothing _bad has happened to us ever since. Normally, I would consider that to be a good thing, but when you're stuck in Tartarus, it's not. So far, I only figured out four possible explanations for this situation and or the first time in my life, I really hope I'm wrong about something. So, either it's A) We are not really in Tartarus, but somewhere else, B) Every monster down here has returned to the real world or has evaporated. C) Nobody has noticed our presence. D) The monsters are planning a surprise attack and wait for the right moment to strike. Unfortunately, all of this explanations sound either really terrifying, really depressing or even highly unlikely.

On the bright side, my ankle has been healed. Eventually, the light returned and Percy got the chance to inspect my injury and managed to heal it with a bit of nectar he found in his pocket.

"So, wise girl, got a plan?" Percy is pacing up and down impatiently. We just emptied our pockets and displayed everything we have in our possession at my feet. All we got is a little piece of ambrosia, some nectar, Percy's sword Riptide, my knife, a watch, some drachma's and also my mother's coin. It's not much, but it's still better than nothing at all.

"I've been thinking…" I hesitate. I actually figured out a plan, but I'm afraid he's not going to like it. "We need water."

"Water?" Percy sounds troubled.

"I know it's hard for you to summon it out of thin air, especially _here_, but we'll need it."

"So your plan is to drink lots of water? What's that good for?"

I sigh. Sometimes, he can be such a fool. "No, we need it so we can send an Iris message." I pick up one of the drachmas. We have five in total - five chances to get a message to the world of the living. "Will you be able to do it?"

"I don't know. I…" Percy's voice trails off. Last time he tried summon some water for me to drink, he'd passed out. When he woke up, he'd gotten seriously angry with himself for letting me down. "What if something attacked you? What if it had killed you and I wasn't there to save you?" he had complained. No matter how many times I told him he did not have to blame himself, he wouldn't listen.

I grab his hand. "It will be alright. I can defend myself in case you pass out. It's our only chance, Percy. Maybe, if we contact the others, they'll be able to send us some help." Percy drops his eyes. "I'll try, but…"

I put my finger against his lips, "No 'but's', Perseus Jackson! Let's do this."

Percy sits down and closes his eyes. He concentrates very hard, and I already see some water boiling up. The pool grows larger and larger, but at the same time, Percy's breathing is slowing down. "Stop, Percy, it's enough," I tell him. But he still keeps going. The pool grows wider, while Percy grows weaker. I grab him by the shoulders: "Stop it, Percy! Now! Your killing yourself." When he still doesn't open his eyes, I start to shake him up. "Percy!" I shout desperately. It's appears like he entered some sort of trance. I slap him in the face, but it doesn't work. "Please," I beg him, but it's no use. He faints.

"NO! Percy!"

"You're not able to help him right now," a sleepy voice echoes through the area, although there is no one to be seen.

"Where are you?" I shout.

"I'm right beside you. I'm on your left, on your right, beneath you and above you. I'm everywhere." I look down. I'm sitting on dirt. Wet dirt – but it's still dirt.

Gaea.

"What have you done to him?"

"I just showed you what will happen when you do not behave as I want you to. You see, Tartarus is like a chessboard, and you two are my pawns. I tell you where to go and what to do. And if you do not obey, you will be punished. Oh and don't worry, I'll send some other pawns for you to deal with soon enough. But for now, it's just you and him I'll be playing with."

"What do you want from us?" I shriek. But Gaea's voice is gone. I suddenly notice I'm still holding onto Percy's shoulders. I gently put him on the ground, and splash some of the water he summoned over his face, but it's no use. Gaea's right, he will be out for a while and there's nothing I can do about it.

I'm alone.


	7. Chapter 7: Messed up time

**Chapter 7: Messed up time**

**Percy**

I wake up by the sound of crackling flames. For a moment, it feels like I just dozed off besides the campfire at Camp Half Blood, and deep down inside I hope that could be true. Before I open my eyes, I say a little prayer to the gods, asking them if it's possible to make everything that happened to be nothing more than a bad dream. But when I blink a few times and although my eyesight's still a little fuzzy, I can tell I'm still finding myself in the middle of a nightmare.

"Welcome back."

Annabeth is sitting at a campfire she made, poking it up with a stick. To my relief, she looks unharmed, although her facial expression is worried and her hair has some dirt in it.

"Thanks," I mutter. I notice that it's gotten dark again. "When did the lights go out?"

"Not so long after you passed out. I barely managed to light a fire," she nods at the flames, "but it worked. How're you feeling?"

"Fine," I lie, "How long have I been out?

"I don't know for sure, but about an hour, maybe two." I curse myself. That's a very long time.

"What happened to you?" Annabeth asks.

Good question. What had happened to me?

"I could hear her, in my head. Just like in my dreams, but now I could also feel her presence. Her power…" my voice dies. I felt so helpless. Gaea had told me she didn't want us to send an Iris message to anyone. She insisted I should stop resisting her will, but when I didn't listen, she took over. She _controlled_ me - made me go far beyond my personal limit. I could feel myself slipping away, as if I was going to die. Right before I blacked out, she told she won't go gentle on me next time.

I look up at Annabeth, but she doesn't ask me any more questions, and I'm thankful for it. Together, we sit at the fire in silence. I stare into the flames; thinking about the others. I wonder if they made it out in time, with the Athena Partenos.

"Percy?"

"Yes?"

"When you were out, I was checking on my watch constantly, and I noticed something odd." I can sense she's been wanting to tell me this ever since I woke up.

"You finally agree that green is not your color?" Annabeth gives me a 'shut-up'-glare.

"No, you see. Something's wrong. One moment, the minutes rushed by, like they merely lasted seconds. A bit later, the seconds lasted for minutes. Like time had slowed down."

"Maybe your watch is broken?"

"I don't think so. You remember how long it stayed dark yesterday? It wasn't as long as it has been the day before."

"So?"

"So, I figured the darkness represents the night, and when it's light, it means it's daytime. But as those periods of light and darkness are not the same length…" she doesn't finish the thought. Maybe she's right about the light and the dark, but still, I'm not convinced.

After a while, Annabeth whispers: " There's something else. You got hurt, when you tried to summon that water. I think it must be have some sort of dehydration. You had a burning mark, right there." She points towards my right shoulder.

I frown - my shoulder doesn't feel burned at all. I pull my shirt aside, only to see nothing's wrong with me. "You're sure I was burned?"

"Look closer."

I narrow my eyes and inspect my shoulder a little more. Then, I notice that my skins seems irritated and a little red. Maybe Annabeth is right.

"It's gone, but … It takes weeks to heal a wound like the one you had," Annabeth says.

I stare at her, not sure if I should believe her or not. Or better – If I want to believe her.

"So you're telling me that either I magically healed or that … someone has been messing with time?"

"That's exactly what I'm telling you."

"But if that last thing is true, I wonder… Who has such power? There is nobody I can think –" Wait a minute. There is someone I can think of, someone who has the power to bend time. But that can't be true, because he's gone. He must be gone…

"_Don't believe him to be dead, Percy. Titans cannot die. If we're lucky, he's shattered, so he won't be able to reform," _a voice echoos in my head.

"You already figured it out, have you?" I look Annabeth in the eye.

"I did. Only one person is able to bend time at his will. The lord of time. The Romans know him as Saturnus," she says.

I shiver, "and we know him as Kronos."


	8. Chapter 8 Curiosity is a strange thing

**Chapter 8: Curiosity is a strange thing**

**Percy**

The revelation that we are to seek help – did I really say 'help'? – from Kronos, nearly made me slip into a depression. I can't actually believe that Annabeth managed to convince me that we have to try to find out where he's hanging out – if he's hanging out somewhere down here at all. 'Please let him be shattered, please let him be shattered' I chant in my head.

Sadly, the time-problem isn't the only thing that worries me. After 4 days, or what feels like 4 days, we're still alone. You don't hear me complain – I like 'alone'- but it's not normal. I even doubt if we really are as alone as we think. Sometimes, I can see flashes of things that aren't there, like this area is haunted by invisible ghosts. Images flicker for a couple of second, and poof – they're gone. It feels like we are taking part in a film which is being fast forwarded by the viewer. I did not share that thought with Annabeth, as she's already too busy with other things. She developed some Sherlock Holmes sense, investigating every inch of the area looking for clues that might help us find a way out. As the area is very large, you can figure we aren't moving very fast.

"Hey Annabeth," I yell at her back, "don't get too far away!" Annabeth turns around and nearly jumps of surprise – probably she hadn't even noticed she was wandering of. She returns to my side. She looks exhausted, every bit of color had drained from her face. I wonder if I look the same.

"I'm sorry," she says, "It's just – I hate it so much when-"

"- when there is something you cannot explain," I finish her sentence, "But it's impossible for one person to know everything - your head would explode if you did. Just enjoy the silence for a moment and let's move. I'm afraid this place won't remain abandoned forever."

Annabeth nods slowly: "Yeah, maybe you're right…"

Hold on a sec - Annabeth just told me I'm right about something. This probably means there is something terribly wrong with her, as she never does that without arguing with me for hours. In an attempt to make her feel better, I swing my arm around her shoulders and give her a heads up. "Don't ponder about everything, wise girl. We can't give up hope right now – the others need us. I need you too."

Annabeth gives me a mangled look and drops her eyes. "I know, I just want to find out what's going on. I …"

Argh – girls. Why can't she just let it rest? I shush her by kissing her on the mouth. "Shut up about it, will yah? For one moment – you're depressing me. Let's think about something positive."

"Such as?" Annabeth makes an impatient gesture.

"The things we will tell the others when we come home? About our crazy adventure in the scary abandoned Tartarus?" I manage a smile, for which I earn a push against my shoulder.

"You make it sound like we're on a boring field trip," Annabeth says accusatory, but she's smiling too. It probably the first time I've seen her smile since we set foot on hell's ground.

"I don't know what we'll tell them, but one thing I'm sure of: the first thing I'll do when we get out, is take a nice, cold shower. And afterwards I'll eat tons of food!" Annabeth's eyes get dreamy, and I can totally understand why. We didn't get our hands on any food yet, and I believe we won't find any in the distant future. All we have is a bit water, which I managed to summon without fainting last time. Probably, Gaea has no problem with drinking.

As we walk, we continue to chit chat about everything we will and will not do when we come home, and the ideas get crazier by the minute .After a while, I feel like we're home again, at Camp Halfblood, sitting by the campfire. But it doesn't take not much to make me return to reality, because we enter an area full of rocks and little rivers of lava.

"Looks like we discovered another part of Tartarus," Annabeth says, while gazing around. "Hey look!," she points at a nearby rock. I stare into the direction she is pointing at.

"That's just a rock, Annabeth. Like er … the other twenty rocks surrounding us?"

"No! Don't you see. It's not just a rock – it's a cave!" After she said that, I can see it too. That particular rock – it does look like a rock – has a small entrance, not much larger than a door.

Something about that cave makes me want to turn around. "Let's leave that rock alone, shall we?" I ask, but Annabeth does not hear me. "Maybe we can find something inside? Something that can tell us where we are and where we should go to?" she says, more to herself and me. The fact that she suggests to do something as reckless as inspecting a dark cave, suddenly makes me realize how desperate she must be.

I clear my voice: "I'm not sure that whatever's inside there wants to meet us Annabeth." I grab her hand and try to pull her away, but she shakes me of. I take a few steps backwards and trip.

"Auch!"

I land on my backside, which hurts a lot. Annabeth didn't notice I fell, as she's still walking towards the cave as if it's hypnotizing her.

"Annabeth, wait for me! Don't go inside, you hear me!" I struggle to my feet, curse the rock I tripped over, head towards the cave, stop and turn around again.

The thing that made me fall wasn't a rock. It's something else, something you would not expect to find in a place like this. It's an Ikea-bag, a big blue one. I want to shout at Annabeth that she has to come back, but she's already too far away. And all that shouting might not be a very good idea either, you never know what's hiding between those rocks.

So that means I'm torn between two choices: follow Annabeth or inspect the bag. I decide I can inspect the bag later, as it would not run away from me. But Annabeth would. I run after her and catch up with her at the entrance of the cave. I pant: "Couldn't you wait for me at least one second?"

Annabeth's face gets a little red: "Yes, but I got curious. Don't you feel it? This place seems to call us. It wants to be investigated."

To be honest – I don't feel a thing. But I don't want to argue about it right now. Maybe the best way to get Annabeth away from here, is to let her inspect this cave little so she will be satisfied. And then we should get out of here as fast as we can. That sounded like a good plan to me for a mere second, but then, someone taps my on the shoulder. In a reflex, I draw Riptide, and turn around – ready to attack. I expected to find some monster lurking behind me, but instead, I'm face to face with a beautiful young woman who appears to be in her early twenties. She's wearing a long greek bridal gown, her hair is chocolate brown and curly and her eyes are as green as mine. She's holding up the Ikea bag and pokes me in the chest.

"Could you pay some more attention to where you're walking, you idiot?" she shouts angrily. I share a confused look with Annabeth, who seems stunned by the appearance of the woman.

"I just tidied up all of my stuff, and now I have to start all over again! Do you have any idea about how much time it took me to do that?" She angrily drops the bag at my feet. "You should be a polite young man, and help me out a little. It's your fault after all." When I open my mouth to ask something, she adds, "And she can help!" pointing at Annabeth. "You two look like you don't have anything better to do anyway."

"That's one angry woman," I whisper into Annabeth's ear, "You think we can trust her?"

"I don't know, she doesn't look like a monster to me. Besides, we can't run away from her, can we? So we might as well help her, I don't want her to get angrier. And maybe she can give us some useful information."

Or maybe she will boil us in her magic cauldron and eat us? But Annabeth's right, we cannot run away from the woman.

"Alright – we'll help you out. Who are you, if I might ask?"

The woman gives me a reproving glance. "You two are curious ones, are you? First you're snooping in my stuff, afterwards you try to invade my gallery and now you want to know my name too?' She sighs: "I'll tell you, but only if you promise to tell me more about yourself as well."

"We promise!" Annabeth says quickly and the woman gives her a smile: "Splendid, that will give us a lot to talk about! I'm Pandora. So tell me – what's your name?"


	9. Chapter 9: Pandora's secret treasure

**Chapter 9: Pandora's secret treasure**

**Annabeth**

When we met the angry woman, I wasn't sure whether we should trust her and stay, or get the hell out of here. Turned out we chose the wrong option when we decided to stay. Not that Pandora is evil, or tried to harm us. When she calmed down, she even turned out to be very nice, which is not a common trait among immortals. But the problem is: she's freakishly annoying. She keeps asking questions about who we are, what we are doing here, why my hair is blond and why Percy has got a tattoo. It simply does not stop, and I'm becoming irritated.

From the little _we_ managed to ask Pandora, we learned that she ended up here the same way we did. She was visiting Rome out of – right – curiosity, when she saw the big pit leading to Tartarus appear. Drawn by her never ending need to find out why things are as they are, she took a closer look and was sucked into to hole. I figure she must have arrived here not long after we did.

During her time down here, she managed to collect all sorts of things while she wandered this land. I know that, because the cave I was about to inspect when Pandora bumped into us is looking a lot like the one the little mermaid has in the Disney movie – Pandora calls it 'her gallery'. It's loaded with numerous objects. Some of them are useless, like corks, Ikea bags and other random pieces of junk, while others can come in quite handy. Between all the stuff, I spotted some food, several books and an EHBO kit. Things we need, but I didn't get the chance to ask Pandora if we can have them, because she keeps firing questions at us.

"So, Annabeth, why's your hair so dirty?" Pandora asks. Percy rolls his eyes. Clearly, he's also tired of her.

"I fell and landed into a pile of mud," I tell her, although that's not the truth. But one thing I learned from talking to Pandora: she never asks you if what you tell her is true. Percy even managed to make her believe we're looking for my lost puppy when she wanted to know the reason why we are here. Pandora simply replied that she did not find a puppy yet, but she would let us know if she did.

"Was it a large pile of mud?" Pandora asks while she hands Percy another piece of junk, so he can put it somewhere between the other stuff in the cave.

"Oh, yes, it was. Very large one," I reassure her.

"How large was it?" I can hear Percy sigh.

"I don't remember, but it was very, very large," I say. Pandora shivers.

"Did you hear her too, in your head? When you touched the dirt?"

Her? Did she mean Gaea? I exchange glances with Percy, who frowns. Because we do not answer her question immediately, Pandora repeats: "Did you hear her? Did you feel the earth goddesses presence?"

"Should we tell her?" Percy mouths at me from behind Pandora's back. I hesitate, because I'm not sure if it's a good idea. Pandora is not a bad person and she treated us well (although she's annoying), so I decide that we might as well tell her everything she knows. We're already in hell, trusting Pandora can't probably make things worse. So I nod at Percy.

"Yes," he says, "I did. She could control me, like a puppet. She did the same thing to you?"

Pandora shakes her head, "No, she was just talking to me. I was curious about who she was and what she had to say, so I kept asking questions. She was really nice, in the beginning. She told me there was something she wanted me to find down here, something valuable to her. She promised me she would keep all the monsters away from me if I went looking for it so I agreed to do it. Those monsters hate me. They kept attacking me, telling me I should have never opened that jar of mine."

"Why's do they hate you? Didn't you release them from their prison by opening your box?" I ask bewildered.

"It's was a Pithos, actually. And yes, I set them free, but most of them got slaughtered and were send here, to Tartarus. They told me they preferred the Pithos." For the first time we met her, Pandora remains silent. I feel pity for her. She did not ask for that damned box anyway. It was given to her by the Gods, just like they'd given her beauty, curiosity and deceitfulness.

"Did you find it? Whatever Gaea wanted you to find?" Percy asks quietly. Pandora nods: "I did, but I never gave it to her. She tried to make me, she showed me many awful things in my head. I believe she would have killed me if she could, but I'm immortal. I cannot die."

"But you said you never gave it to her," I remark.

"No."

"How could you resist her?"

"I'll show you," Pandora says. She steps back and lifts her dress. I gasp. Pandora's feet aren't touching the ground. She's floating a few inches above the ground, because she's wearing winged shoes. My hearts drops when I look at those shoes, because they look strangely familiar. Those are the shoes Luke once gave to Percy, the shoes that were sucked into Tartarus several years ago. I'm suddenly overwhelmed with grief . I waver and just before I fall down, Percy catches me.

"The shoes," I whisper. By the shocked look on Percy's face, I can tell he recognized those shoes as well.

"What's wrong?" Pandora asks panicky, "Did I do something wrong?"

I wanted to tell her she did not, but when I try to speak, words do not come out. So instead, Percy answers her question: "No, not at all. It's just – Annabeth is allergic to winged shoes." That lie does not sound very convincing, but Pandora seems to buy it – just like she always does.

"Thank goodness." She looks relieved and continues her story: "I found these shoes not long after I found that thing _she_ wanted me to look for. I tried them on and found out I was able to fly with them, and suddenly, she was gone."

"Gaea disappeared?"

"I'm not sure if she did disappear, but I couldn't hear her anymore, in my head," Pandora whispers. Once again, we all remain silent. I'm still too shocked to say a thing. The unexpected confrontation with my past hit me like a bullet. I never expected that thinking about Luke would sadden me this much. I bury myself in Percy's shirt and start to sob. I can hear Pandora asking why I react like this.

"Allergic reaction," Percy tells her.

It takes me a while to calm down. Percy holds me in his arms the entire time, and I'm so thankful for the fact that he refused to let me fall into Tartarus alone. I don't think I would stand a chance down here, all by myself. The silence and loneliness would give me too much time to think, and eventually, it would drive me crazy.

When I finally quit sobbing, all of the things Pandora told us starts to dawn on me. Gaea has no control over her, not since she found the shoes, because… Because she does not touch the ground! It's just like Gaea told me: she is everywhere – above me, beneath me and beside me. But she's not in the air, she can only control us when we touch dirt, which is her domain.

"You told us Gaea wanted you to look for something," I let go of Percy and look at Pandora, "What was it?"

She stares back at me and a bit disappointed, she says: "It turned out to be nothing special. It's old and dirty, but I kept it close. I just don't want Gaea to lay her hands on it." Pandora reaches her hand in her dress and pulls out a long golden chain on which is dangling a little golden pocket watch.

"You can inspect it, if you want to. Maybe you will be able to find out what it does, but according to me, it's broken. I pressed every button, but it does not work. The clock-hands move either to fast or to slow. I tried to open it, in order to fix it, but I think it's stuck." Pandora tries to give the watch to me and I reach out to take it, but Percy stops me.

"Don't take it, not now," he whispers in my ear. I look at him, and to my surprise, he looks frightened. His eyes are fixed on the watch, the shimmering gold is reflected in his eyes, so they look like they golden instead of green.

**Hey,**

**First of all: OMG OMG OMG. Have you already checked out the new cover for the house of Hades? I'm so excited about it, as it shows Percy and Annabeth on the cover - I'm so glad they will be part of the story! The image reallt looks promising. In case you haven't seen it, you can find it here wiki/The_House_of_Hades . **

**Alright, I also got some other new: I finally found a Beta: IAmHayleyDaughterAthena! She will be looking after my story, so it make take a while before I upload another chapter. Anyway, feel free to leave commentary if you like in the meantime. I'll post as soon as possible, but I got to give my Beta some time to re-read and corect all of my chapters. I'm so sorry to put it on hold for a while, as I nearly finished the next chapter.**

**Thanks for giving this story a chance!**

**xxx Ellyn**


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